By FR. KEVIN M. CUSICK
“. . . It is possible to speak in a certain sense of a war of the powerful against the weak: a life which would require greater acceptance, love and care is considered useless, or held to be an intolerable burden, and is therefore rejected in one way or another.
“A person who, because of illness, handicap or, more simply, just by existing, compromises the well-being or lifestyle of those who are more favored tends to be looked upon as an enemy to be resisted or eliminated. In this way a kind of ‘conspiracy against life’ is unleashed” (Pope John Paul II, Evangelium Vitae).
The Gospel is of and for life, as Pope John Paul II so rightly taught. However, it is never only about life eternal that we speak. The Gospel begins here and now. Christ teaches: “Love one another as I have love you”: how we treat our neighbors has eternal consequences for ourselves.
The times in which we live teach us to never believe that man has learned from history. We evidently have not gleaned sufficiently from even recent history when so soon after World War II the programmatic and intentional killing of certain classes of human beings has not yet been stamped out.
Parents are increasingly powerless. Especially pro-life parents. One only had to witness the recent international drama playing out between the UK and Italy as Tom and Kate, parents of Alfie Evans, scrambled to appeal to the Pope and the world for help in saving the life of their son, however much God ordains for him on Earth.
Alfie has a degenerative brain disease which the media describe as “terminal.” The National Health Service decided that all life support should be withdrawn over the objection of the parents. Tom Evans, a Catholic, secured an audience with Pope Francis and made a touching appeal for his help. Italy stepped in, granted citizenship to Alfie, military transport, and a place at Bambino Gesù hospital in Rome. As of this writing, however, it was all to no avail.
The Internet erupted in a storm of protest at the injustice, if activity on Twitter is any indication.
“Godless socialized @NHSEngland has no objectivity when it comes to the sovereign right to life of every human, acts to preserve its bureaucratic prerogatives over the prior rights of parents, refusing to grant release for outside care in fear for its own survival.” So I opined on the social media platform.
If a child wants to kill himself or get an operation to change his or her sex, there are more and more agents outside of the family willing to oppose the parents who decide otherwise is best for the welfare of their offspring. Now, even a child too young to speak for himself is denied the voice of his parents, those designated by God Himself as the only ones with the authority to ensure what is in the best interests of each boy or girl. Alfie Evans is merely the latest in a string of such cases in the UK, to include Charlie Gard of recent memory.
The NHS and UK court system consistently ruled against Tom and Kate Evans when it came to the health of their son Alfie. But it wasn’t socialism at issue as @mkohlrogge stated on Twitter: “Well Kirsten this is socialism at its finest.” Her respondent Kirsten Powers rejoined, “If you mean this is what happens when you have universal health care you are wrong. Italy has universal health care and: Alfie Evans granted Italian citizenship in life support legal row.”
Adrian Vermeule, Tyler Professor of Constitutional Law at Harvard Law School, also weighed in: “Exactly. Might we please disentangle the question of universal health care from the barbarous inhumanity shown to Alfie Evans and his family. The latter has no connection to the former. It reflects only the culture of death in the UK,” and added, “Well, another time I’ll try out on you my pet theory that the brutal suppression of Catholicism in the UK centuries ago is now showing its full consequences.”
Sohrab Ahmari of Commentary magazine agreed and took it a step further: “The two — British anti-Catholicism and this ugly flowering of the culture of death — are absolutely linked.”
Even a superficial familiarization with British history will make it obvious that the de-Christianization of the UK, begun in the name of a false Gospel under Henry VIII, has led up to this abyss. In the claim of achieving a purer, higher form of uncorrupted worship of God the “Church of England” was born, which, of course, is not in fact a Church but a sect. That left turn into heresy and schism has brought us to where we are today: a court system which is anti-life and has made itself a god allied with legitimization granted by association with a national church torn from the Body of Christ.
“Alfie Evans will die because judges and doctors don’t want to be proven wrong. Pride and arrogance are what will murder little Alfie,” according to Matt Walsh, @mattwalshblog, who offered a column on the subject.
A Twitter storm of protest continued throughout the day on April 24 as Alfie continued to breathe on his own following the removal of oxygen the previous evening as ordered by the court. That day, #ALFIESARMY tweeted a video of Alfie blinking his eyes with the message: “22 HOURS BREATHING UNASSISTED…Alfie yesterday before vent removed…look how aware and alert he is . . . what many of us have seen with beautiful Alfie and the reason we support his amazing mummy and daddy.”
Sohrab Ahmari jumped with both feet into the fray by writing his Commentary column, “Miracle in Liverpool,” in which he opined, “‘Death with dignity’ in Alfie’s case involves withholding oxygen, hydration, and nutrition from a toddler and restraining his parents as they try to do what comes naturally to all parents.”
But he knows, as do we all, this is neither dignity nor death but, rather, murder. When health care is a government-run monopoly, empowered to make life and death decisions that belong properly only to parents and families, the option to release even little Alfie can become captive only to PR concerns. It would undoubtedly cast a bad international image for the UK should a patient they refuse to treat be given refuge in a Rome hospital run by the Pope.
By the time you read this, the final destiny of innocent Alfie to live forever within the loving embrace of the heavenly Father may have already commenced. At this writing, the child was still breathing on his own as his parents comforted him, while he was denied nutrition.
The faith is strong among the many who remain faithful pro-life warriors like Alfie’s parents. As Ireland braces for the great assault upon its pro-life constitution with the May 25 vote on the Eighth Amendment defending the unborn, our prayers, solidarity, and action worldwide must remain strong and depend on the Lord’s help.
Hope for life eternal begins, or ends, for each of us on this Earth depending upon the way in which we defend, or not, all human life, no exceptions. As the Lord teaches, “Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.”
Thank you for reading and praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever. Amen.
@MCITLFrAphorism
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